Rail Corridor Deal Gets Small Delay

From the Seattle Times this morning:

Rail-corridor deal is delayed a bit
Port of Seattle officials now expect to sign a final deal sometime next month to buy the Renton-to-Snohomish rail corridor from BNSF Railway, a Port spokeswoman said Friday.
The two sides had been expected to complete negotiations by Monday, the day that King County's exclusive right to negotiate with the railroad was set to expire. The Port took over the county's position as the prospective buyer under a preliminary agreement with BNSF and the county.
Port spokeswoman Charla Skaggs aid officials anticipate signing a purchase and sale agreement next month, with the deal closing several months later. BNSF had agreed to sell the 42-mile line to the Port for $103 million, but the price may be adjusted if the railroad leaves all the tracks in place for possible future passenger rail service.

Merry Christmas from WARail

Happy Holidays! On this Christmas Day, so many are spending time with family and friends - or even just relaxing or working. No matter how you spend the day, make it a great day.

Best wishes to you and your family from the Washington Railblog.

Regards,

Kurt Clark

Workin' On The Railroad

Saturday December 8th - On a cold morning in SODO, a brakeman staffs the switch while a BNSF GP39M rumbles towards a side track to pick up some cars. Engine 2884 - built in 1965 as Great Northern GP35 #3040 - ran the entire length of track from Holgate down to Lander before grabbing what it needed.

In the meantime, it was good texting time for the Brakeman and his cell-phone.

BNSF 9218

This type of locomotive has always fascinated me. The white face, the unique cab design, and (noticing today) the strong exhaust note. This thing is a brute.

A much better picture of this EMD SD60M appears HERE. For good reason, the cab windows gave rise to its nickname of "Triclops." You will see SD60s with many styles of cabs; this one has what's called the "North American Safety Cab," which started use in Canada.

This picture was taken just north of Qwest Field, as the train enters King Street Station heading north towards the tunnel.

Tacoma Rail GP20 - Old Loco, Old Camera

Tacoma Rail has one of the more colorful paint schemes in Western Washington. Evidence is in this photo of their Red & White GP20 against dull grey rail cars. Some sources say that TMBL 2006 is a GP10 while others say GP20. Generally speaking, it's older than 1963 and it has four axles - which at the very least makes is an EMD GP series locomotive. Look around North America and you'll find Short Lines, Regionals, Rail Museums, and the like still running these soldiers of steel. The GP series locomotives were built between 1953 and 1994, with the GP60 being the most recent (and possibly final) version.

Look at the photo and you'll see a beautiful excursion train. But don't look at the graininess of the photo. Yep I said grain, as opposed to "noise." Noise would indicate that I am using a digital camera. Grain? That means I shot this photo old school, with a 35mm camera! Say hello to my trusty 1970s era Vivitar 220SL. This shot was taken through a 175mm lens. The camera kit includes elements of my late grandfather's photo kit; his camera body wore out about 8 years ago - my Dad said he took thousands of photos with it - so I replaced body with an identical one off eBay for a whopping $45. It even has an internal light meter. I have lenses ranging from 28mm to the 175, plus some kind of "2x converter" lens that apparently turns my 175 into a 350. Haven't tried that one yet but I'm told it degrades the image somewhat and also doesn't allow the same amount of light through. We'll see what it can do on a nice day sometime.

By taking this and some other photos with the 35mm SLR camera, I've rediscovered the interactive nature of photography in this old school kit that I don't feel with my digital. Maybe I'm sentimental because it was my Grandfather's, or maybe I just remember the enjoyment of taking pictures with a hand-me-down 35mm (now deceased) that served me well for about 8 years when I was younger. My Olympus C4040 is a 4 megapixel model that has been truck-strong and versatile, but as I have become more experienced with it I've discovered it's not as flexible as I would like. Not the fault of any camera, the big enemy in the Pacific Northwest is poor lighting. Finding any sort of situation with the right amount of light around here is difficult. At least with a film camera I can work more with the shutter speed than I can with my digital. That's why suddenly my old Vivitar has made it back into my kit. I'll probably try slide film, tripod, and remote shutter release the next time I head out; this would allow me to try even slower shutter speeds, at least on static subjects.

Posting railroading photos on the Internet has nurtured my desire to experiment with the equipment I have, since I really don't have the budget to replace any of it. Think about all the "off-brand" SLR cameras that may be languishing on shelves or garage sales; they may not be a Pentax, Nikon, or Olympus, but they are cheap and can take good photos with some practice.